a prayer for broken things
by shushufangirl
Summary: After years of pining after her first love,Winry has finally decided to move on, finding love in Roy Mustang of all people. But a humonculus with Ed's face and Ed's memories suddenly turns up. And a choice has to be made. Can she have her happy ending at last?
1. Chapter 1

Assumptions:

Do not own FMA

Based solely on the series, movie and the bluebird's illusion game (did I get that right?)

I have no idea what the plot was in the game but it gave me the idea how to bring Ed back

Al is dead in the other world and Ed is brought back as the humonculus, Pride.

**A prayer for broken things**

1

Pride looked on the dead city. His bare arms accustomed to the icy night air. It would've been a year now since his birth. A year since he came into this world, a body, a mind but no soul.

He could hear his mother and Envy speaking in the parlor. They no longer slept. Not when there was no point in sleeping. They no longer needed the rest, artificial bodies did not function the same as normal bodies do.

And yet in the few instances that he did, he would dream. Humonculi were not supposed to dream. They are not able to. But he did, he dreamt of a young boy and young girl with blue eyes and a smile that would always haunt him. He would wake up with an unknown longing, a deep ache in his heart and a sense that he was supposed to remember. These feelings disturbed him so much he stopped sleeping. These things were so unknown to him, so new so alien he never spoke of them to his creator. He did not know what they meant or why he was having them, weren't they supposed to be empty? Why were these unwanted dreams flooding his consciousness, why were these feelings affecting him so.

He told himself they were just hallucinations, that they weren't real. He told himself it was just his mind playing tricks on him. But no matter how many times he said it, he believed it less and less.

They were strange and they weren't right but Pride in his loneliness, in his emptiness found solace in these images. In the deep aching he felt, in the hollow feeling of losing something, he almost felt like he had. As if he meant something once.

This was his sanctuary, the secret place only he knew of. A secret part of himself that would always remain his. Apart from his orders, his master, his brother this small part was his.

So he would retreat into slumber and listen to children laughing and stolen memories from another time.

Pride hugged his legs to his chin, closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

She sat in her work shop, tools strewn about, twenty seven, past her prime, beautiful.

Not that she didn't have any suitors, on the contrary they were always a source of irritation to her. She just never found the need to entertain them. She had her auto mail, her clients and a lifetime's worth of regret, what else was there?

The bell rung on her front door, she called over not looking up from the leg she was assembling. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Take a break grease monkey." He smiled.

She looked up and gave him a big smile in return, she hadn't expected him to visit her.

"Hi Roy." She said, the limb temporarily forgotten. "What brings you out here?" she said wiping her hands on the towel.

"Nothing, do I need a reason to bring lunch to my girl?" he smiled raising a brown paper bag.

"Ha ha a tad bit confident today are we?" she teased grabbing the paper bag. "What did you buy me?" she laughed.

Roy Mustang smiled, this girl was his saving grace, of all the fucked up things he did in his life, she was the one bright spot. The one right thing he did.

She was but a child when he first saw her. Even then he knew she would be beautiful. He looked on her with a sad regret. She was so full of life, so beautiful despite of what had happened to her. Every time he saw her he felt so ashamed. Of all the things he had done. Of all the things he had to atone for.

He had taken so much from her it was almost unfair that she should suffer for all the things he had done. All the stupid decisions he made. He just wanted to make things right for her. He knew he couldn't bring back what he took from her but he promised himself he would make her happy no matter what.

Initially they were drawn to each other because both of them had lost Edward, her first love and his good friend. He laughed, who would've thought he would call him that. They had found solace in each other's company, the two that were left behind. Then it started becoming more than that. In all his philandering, he was always looking for something. Running away from who he was, changing one woman after another, afraid they would see what a monster he really was.

But Winry Rockbell knew what he was even from the beginning, knew what he had done. She of all people had every right to hate him, and yet she forgave him. He had never even hoped to be forgiven.

He remembered that day, it was raining and she was standing by the graveyard in Rizenbool, waiting for him it seemed.

"I know you come here every year. You bring flowers on the day they were killed." She whispered. She was just fifteen.

"I didn't think you'd notice." He answered afraid to look at her.

"That war took everything from me. Don't let it consume you as well. Too many lives have been lost, live the one you still have." She said turning around. "My parents would've wanted you to find peace and be happy. And so do I." she smiled at him walking away.

And Roy Mustang let out one long sigh. The Ishbal war had taken part of him as well, it broke him. In his heart he had always carried the burden of wanting to be a better man. He wanted to change the military, stop all the wars, stop all the useless blood shed. He had told himself he did not deserve to be happy, not after everything he has done. And in his need to atone for his sins he had forgotten how broken he really was. How empty. He lived his life wanting to make a better world for other people but not for himself. He thought he didn't deserve it. And here she was telling him to stop, that it was ok to be happy. That was when he fell.

At first he tried to deny it. Reasoning that she was much much too young for him and at that time he was still in love with Riza Hawkeye. In looking for that one thing that eluded him, that one thing he kept looking for in the numerous women he had dated, he found in the least person he expected to. A simple girl from whom he had taken everything from and yet still loved him. And he promised himself, he would make her happy no matter what.

"What are you day dreaming about Colonel?" she laughed throwing an olive at his face, she called him by his old title whenever she wanted to tease him.

"Was thinking about how good you look in that old mini skirts you used to wear." He smiled as she turned crimson.

"Roy!"

* * *

Envy was exciting the people, rallying them into taking up the cause. He took the form of a student rebel leader he had killed a couple of months before.

Pride stood in the shadows. His face covered by the hood of his coat. They had taken precautions whenever they were in Central, it would not do to have any of Edward's old acquaintances notice him now. They were after all in the higher ups.

He was listening to Envy's practiced speech, to the cheers of the people when a glimmer of yellow caught his eye. She came out of on of the stores, talking to a man. She was laughing.

_I remember her laugh…_

Pride jumped, why would he have sentiment for this person? He looked at her, she was older now but she was still beautiful. She wore her golden hair down now but her blue eyes were always laughing.

_Who are you?_ He whispered to himself. _Why are you doing this to me?_

He leaned forward, his cover forgotten for the moment. He was lost in her. Her intoxicating smile and ephemeral laugh. His hood falling behind him, revealing his face.

* * *

Winry went with Roy in his errands, she wanted to enjoy the day. With the student rebellion wreaking havoc in the streets it was very rare to have peaceful days now and she would enjoy each one she was still given.

Roy kept telling her to move out of the city, with her connections to the higher ranked officers, the students might come after her next. She told him why would she be afraid, he was with her. She looked at him, true he had lost his rank and was now just a police officer but she believed that he had never looked happier.

At first she wouldn't believe that the Colonel would be interested in her. True she had always had a crush on him when she was young. But when she learned of what he had done her feelings toward him turned to hatred and hurt. But when he learned of how much the Colonel cared for the Elric boys and how much he tried to protect them, she forgave him.

She knew he was a good man and that sometimes things out of our control had to happen. So she did what was in her power to do, she forgave him. True forgiving him would not bring her parents back but she knew they wouldn't have wanted her hate to consume her. And she knew they wouldn't want his guilt to eat away at his soul. Let him be happy, he lost half of himself in that war too.

When Edward left she thought she would never love again. That great loves only happen once in a lifetime. She had hoped she would live out the rest of her life with him, be happy in his arms, have children. But then life never turns out the way you planned it.

Then Roy came. It was an awkward courtship; neither of them knew what to do with each other. They were both too full of emotional scars, both were too afraid of what could happen and of the repercussions it might bring.

But she could not help but fall for the Colonel. She saw how much he tried to make things better for everyone. She knew that he was a good man. He even promised to stop philandering, which he stuck to as far as she knew.

She never thought she would love another. In fact she was contented to just be by herself, the Elrics had left a deep hole inside her heart that nothing could fill. It left her hollow.

When Roy came into her life she realized that she laughed more and she started believing she could have another future, one without Ed. Maybe she can still have her happy ending?

They had come from the bakery when they passed by another demonstration. The student leader was lecturing on the corruption that was rampant in the military, that a democracy would benefit them more. She had stopped listening months ago, it was the same thing over and over.

_Who are you?_

She started. She thought she heard something. She started looking around if someone she knew just called her.

_Why are you doing this to me?_

She looked around again, this time she caught eyes of gold. Her breath caught. It was a face she would know anywhere.

A man crossed her line of vision and the apparition disappeared. She kept looking around trying so see if he was still in the crowd. Her heart beating like cazy, her mouth dry.

"What did you see love?" Roy asked looking around too.

"A ghost." She whispered.

* * *

She asked to be brought home. She was suddenly tired and did not feel like walking around anymore. Suddenly the afternoon off didn't sound so grand. She bade Roy farewell reassuring him she would be ok and began working on one of her creations. Her hands were working furiously as if they could make her forget what she saw, she felt something wet fall upon her arm. She looked at the single solitary drop, willing it to disappear. And before she could stop it, her body started shaking and her tears started falling.

She buried herself in her hands, waiting for the feeling to pass, waiting for her despair to leave. It was always the same. She hated this.

She taught herself not to hope, she taught herself not to wait anymore. Cause if there was hope then there would always be despair and she had had enough of that. She thought she taught herself better than this.

When all of her sobs had stopped, her body silent once more. She closed her shop.

Pride stood silently crouched on her window pane. Watching as the girl inside gently cried herself to sleep looking over old photographs. He placed his hand soundlessly against the glass.

He felt such sadness watching her. He looked over her beautiful face, her yellow hair cradling her and the silent tears caressing her cheeks. How sad she seemed. How alone.

And something somewhere deep inside Pride broke.

"Winry…"


	2. Chapter 2

2

Edward was home that night. He was sleeping in the next room. She stepped out on the balcony and looked up at the stars. Maybe tomorrow their quest will end; maybe tomorrow they'll come home for good.

They had changed so much the past couple of years, they had grown up so fast, seen so many things, experienced so many things. She sighed, would life in Rizenbool with her be enough? Would they still want to stay with her? Would he?

She looked out at the distance. Rizenbool looked so peaceful. As if it would never change. It was like her love for them, for him. She would also never change. No matter how many years had passed, no matter how many seasons had changed she was still there. As constant as the place they grew up in.

She shivered in the evening air. She had decided long ago she would wait, be the one constant in their lives. Never waiver, never doubt. Yet she could not suppress the fear she felt that she would never see them again every time they left. Never hear Al's voice again, never see Ed's smile, never feel his arms around her again. Suddenly she was afraid. Afraid of losing the one constant in her life.

She snuck into their room. Al had spent the night with their dad and Ed stubbornly refused to see him. She had always done this when they were children. When the thunder would frighten her, she would run to Ed's bed and snuggle next to him. His breathing soothing her. She looked at him sleeping in his bed, his hands resting on his chest.

She smiled. She sat on the edge of the bed wishing she could just stop the time. Wishing she could make them stay. But it was never enough.

He stirred in his sleep, disturbed by the added weight.

"Hmmm Winry?" he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked sitting up.

"I wanted to remember." She whispered sadly.

"Remember what?" he asked getting annoyed.

"What it felt like having you home." She said her tears falling.

"Why are you crying?" he asked his voice gentle. Lifting her chin up with his real hand. "I told you to stop crying."

"Are you ever coming home?" she asked raising his palm against her cheek.

"you are our home. That's why we keep coming back." He said wishing he could take her pain away. He knew how much it hurt her every time they left.

"I will always return to you." He whispered. He wished she didn't love him; maybe she wouldn't be hurt so much. He wishes he could just stay with her, hold her hand like they used to. He wished he hadn't fuck up all three of their lives. If it wasn't for him maybe she wouldn't always be crying. "Stop crying you idiot."

She smiled at him and placed her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. He wished she didn't love him and yet he wouldn't know how he'd survive if she did. He needed her to be there, needed to know there was always something he would come home to.

He lifted her head and kissed her. She sighed, relief flooding over her. She reminded herself of what she had and of his promise. He would return.

She leaned into the kiss, he shifted his weight and Winry smiled. He was trying to hide his erection from her. It was sweet in a way, how embarrassed he still felt. They were still just children after all. She felt his hands find their way to her waist settling there, pulling her into his lap, drawing her closer to him.

"Ed…" she whispered drawing away for a moment, placing her forehead on his.

"Yeah?" he asked flushed, absently combing his hands through her hair.

"I love you." She said running her hands on his bare chest.

"I love you too." He smiled. He leaned in taking her lips again, feeling her skin under his palms, feeling the strap of her nightgown fall from her shoulders. He started kissing her neck, tasting her, oh how he wanted to claim her for his own.

Winry took a deep breath. She wrapped her arms around his neck, wanting to feel him. Wanting to feel everything that he was. She needed to take a piece of him with her. Wanted to have that one little bit to hold on to.

That nigh she had given herself to him, completely. Her heart, her body, her soul.

Winry opened her eyes. She had dreamt of it again. She had known no other but Edward. Given herself completely only once in her life. The very next day Edward would disappear from her life forever. Leaving nothing but that one gift they shared and a promise left unfulfilled.

She watched the clouds move across the sky form her bed. Another day had started. She had to remind herself this was her life now.

* * *

Pride watched as the people in Central started gathering for another protest. They were becoming restless. A civil war might break out soon.

"Look at them, as easy as taking candy from a baby. Idiots." Envy scoffed. "Come on, lets go home."

"Home?" Pride asked as he followed his brother. He didn't know what underground city was called but he knew it wasn't home.

* * *

"Major Havoc!" Roy smiled greeting his old subordinate who was now his superior.

"Colonel!" he grinned, his cigarette hanging lazily across his mouth.

"Haha I'm no longer ranked higher than you Major." He laughed. They had always called him by his old title, out of respect.

"What brings you to our lowly head quarters?" he asked shaking his hand.

"Ah getting down to business. I need a couple of detectives to do background checks for me." He said sitting across the chief of police.

"Doesn't the military have personnel for that?" he asked confused. They had a more extensive file collection he did not understand why he came to him.

"You see the Fuhrer does not want to let the students think they're getting to the military. It might make them bolder and do drastic things." He said leaning back in his chair. "But the civilians are becoming restless and demonstrations are building."

"You need me to check out the student leaders?" he asked reading into what he was saying.

"Ah quick as ever. Yes that is the purpose of my being here."

"The military washes its hands of this dirty job? Ah well that is what the police are for after all."

"We just want to be sure about what the real intentions of these people are. If we start snooping around they may think we actually consider them a threat."

"I see. The Fuhrer does not want out right conflict. He's giving them a way out." He said finally understanding.

"You know the rebellion will not last two days against the military. He wants to resolve things peacefully. Prevent any blood shed."

"But he will look like an idiot that's afraid of the student leaders if he arranges a truce with them. He wants to know the true intentions such that if they actually make sense he might consider going into talks." He said impressed.

"Very sharp Chief." Havoc smiled.

"Armstrong was the right choice for Fuhrer." Roy smiled. "He's very fair."

"That he is." Havoc laughed. "You know, if you hadn't left the military…"

"No more talk of that." He smiled. He knew what he was getting at. He was higher ranked than Armstrong once upon a time, many of his subordinates believed he would've made Fuhrer had he not left.

"Ah I see. You really have lost all ambition." He laughed but he had to admit, he had never seen the Colonel look so carefree. Perhaps leaving was the best choice for him.

"How's Hawkeye?" he asked quietly.

"Ah the Brigadier General is riding my ass!" eh said groaning. "Theoretically of course. God I swear she's getting back at us for what you did!"

"I didn't do anything." He raised his hands as if innocent.

"She never forgave you for abandoning us you know." He said looking at him.

"I know. How is her children?" he asked knowing she already had two with her husband.

"Ah she makes me baby sit. Imagine! A Major babysitting those damn spawns from hell." He said leaning back in his chair.

"Haha" Roy smiled. Havoc looked at him, he laughed more these days.

"How's Winry-chan?" he asked smiling as the Colonel tried to hide his blush.

"Ah she's well. Stubborn as always." He smiled.

"You really should tie her down." He said lighting up. "Might get away you know. And neither of you are getting younger, especially you." He unconsciously cringed at what he said. When Roy was still a Colonel his face would've lit up in flames by now.

"What? I thought a gentleman grows more distinguished as he ages, like brandy?"

"No he just ages." Havoc laughed.

"When the time is right maybe." He answered wistfully. "Maybe I'll have little hell spawns of my own. You're free to baby sit any time you want."

"Hell no!" Havoc said getting up. "Times like these I thank god you are no longer my superior."

* * *

He entered the shop bringing her lunch again. The talk with Havoc made him miss her. She was sitting by her work bench watching the sky, lost in what ever world it was she was visiting.

"Hey grease monkey." He smiled taking her out of her day dream.

"Hey Colonel." She smiled.

_She's sad today. _

He dropped the paper bag on her table sitting across form her. He wasn't blind. He knew she still loved Edward that was why he had never asked her to marry him. He would never impose that choice on her. If she wanted it she would tell him.

"Slow day today?" he commented seeing the store was empty.

"No I decided not to open today." She said looking at her "closed" sign outside.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked concerned.

"Lets go somewhere." She sighed going over to him and wrapping her arms around him. "Take me away Colonel." She whispered.

* * *

"What's the matter Pride?" Dane asked stroking his cheek. "You seem different." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Is something wrong my love?" she asked kissing him.

"Nothing." He answered. Dante always wanted him near her, she never let him out of her sight. He reminded her of Hohenheim. She wanted him to be her partner. To love her too. As much as humonculi were able to love. But she was too weak. She didn't want him to love her in her decaying body. She needed the philosopher's stone soon.

All three of them were the only ones left. A lot of her power was lost in bring Envy back from the gate. Resurrecting Pride had almost killed her. Now she was close to nothing. She needed that stone.

"Pride." She whispered setting her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her automatically. "I need you to do something for me."

"I need you to start this war." She whispered burrowing deeper in his embrace.

"Yes master." He said quietly.

* * *

They sat on a field in the outskirts of central, in the shadow of a big oak tree just watching the day pass. They rarely left central. They had no where else to go anyway.

Ever since Pinako died Winry refused to return to Rizenbool. She had nothing to go back to there, she said. All she had left were graves.

Her whole life now revolved around Roy. He was her only family. He was her life now.

She put down her book, watching his sleeping face on her lap. She loved Roy, she was sure of that. Its just some wounds just never heal.

She thought about starting a family. She knew he wanted to be a father. She knew he was just waiting for her. Perhaps it was time she finally let go of her past. Perhaps they could begin anew, the two of them. Halves of who they were when they began. Perhaps they might be whole together.

"Ouch…" he cried grabbing his neck. "I got a cramp." He said sitting up.

She leaned over and kissed him. Silently thanking him for being there.

"Wow! Well good morning to you too." He smiled.

* * *

The streets of Boerhaven were awash with blood. People were screaming for help as buildings came crashing down. Pride looked on; they had to start the catalyst in one of the provincial cities. They couldn't let Pride's face be recognized after all.

He used his alchemy to wreak havoc in the city. He created bombs out of the streets, caused buildings to fall on their foundations. The people didn't know what hit them. All they knew was that it was a Nationally Certified Alchemist.

He started walking across the field towards the train station. Envy would be waiting there. He paused underneath an old oak tree. The afternoon sun filtering through the leaves falling on his face and remembered.

* * *

There were two children barely six years old, a boy and a girl. The girl was crying cause some boy took her doll, the boy had told her to wait for him at the tree and not to move till he came back.

He came back running his clothes all muddied up and his arms and legs full of scratches showing he was in a fight. A great big smile broke on his lips as he held up the doll triumphantly. The girl clapped her hands and laughed running into his arms.

"Yay thank you Edward!" she smiled hugging her doll.

"It was nothing..." he smiled rubbing the back of his head embarrassed.

"Is there anything you want? I'll cook for you." She smiled.

"No I want something else." He said turning red.

"What do you want then Ed?" she asked holding on to his hand swinging her doll in the other.

"Winry…you'll marry me right? Not Al?" he blurted out.

"Huh? What do you mean Ed?" she asked shivering.

"I mean you'll live in a house with me and cook for me and stay up and talk with me." He said in one breath.

"But I already do that now?" she asked confused.

"No but I want you to love me to!"

"But I already love you."

"No more than Al!" he stopped getting frustrated. The girl paused thoughtfully at him.

"But I already love you more…" she said quietly.

"Yay! So its decided you'll marry me!" The boy laughed. "Now we have to seal the promise with a kiss!"

"Do we have to?" she asked suddenly apprehensive.

"Yeah so it'll be forever!" he said seriously.

"Oh ok…do I have to close my eyes?" she asked.

"Hmm yeah so it'll be true love!"

"Oh ok." The girl closed her eyes. And the boy leaned in and kissed her, running away laughing after.

"Edwaaaaarrrrddd!" she yelled running after him.

* * *

Pride watched the sunlight dance through the leaves.

_Edward?

* * *

_

It was really late when they got back. They sat in the couch listening to the radio. He was running his hand through her hair. Watching her. She was so beautiful.

"Well its late." he said starting to stand up. "I gotta go back home." He kissed her softly on her forehead.

"Roy..."

"Hmmm?" he asked turning to look at her.

"Stay with me." She said quietly. "Stay with me tonight."


	3. Chapter 3

3

She looked at him. He was still holding her hand. That night they had made love for the first time. He had waited patiently for her; they had been together almost two years.

When she asked him to stay with her she had decided not to wait anymore. If she could have a life with Roy Mustang she'll take it. She loved him as much as a broken heart can love.

She looked at his handsome face, his brow furrowed as if he was concentrating. He was snoring so loudly she allowed herself the pleasure of laughing. A small one.

All her life she kept fixing things. Making something for people who lost part of themselves. Making them whole again. Who would fix her? She had given so much of herself to Edward, that when he left, she felt like a big part of her was lost as well. She could not fix her brokenness.

She placed a kiss on his cheek and placed her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She'll try to be happy with him, try to make him happy as well. They had too much sadness in their lives already. Don't they deserve a happy ending to? If the law of Alchemy is one of equivalent trade then what did she gain? Didn't she lose everything? Didn't they take everything from her?

She sighed. _No more_ she told herself. _No more regrets. Let me live my life. I may only be half of who I was, maybe even less. But I'll give all of that to you if you'll take it._

Roy wrapped his arm around her, she looked up at him and smiled.

"Morning." She said sticking her tongue out at him. "you snore a lot."

"Don't you find that sexy?" he laughed stretching his back.

"No, its loud." She said sitting up.

"Sorry, did it bother you?" he asked looking at her.

"Nope. I liked it." She laughed getting ready to get out of bed. He grabbed her from behind and dragged her back to the bed.

"Not yet." He smiled. "Stay in my arms a little longer."

"Are you always this cheesy in the morning?" she asked kissing him.

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" he asked tracing circles on her naked back.

"What?" she asked looking at him.

"Move in with me." He said seriously. "I want to wake up to your smile every morning, and sleep with your hands in mine every night."

She stopped. A smile crossed her face. "You know I can't say no to the 'serious face'" she laughed.

He smiled and pulled her in for a long deep kiss. His hands exploring her body once more, relishing what she felt like. Tracing every line, feeling her soft skin. He made love to her then.

* * *

Pride watched as Envy killed the boy. Barely fifteen. They had to make sure the military would retaliate, make sure the war would break out. They had decided to the kill the youngest son of the Brigadier General of Boerhaven.

His brother laughed as he strangled the boy. The thrill of stopping someone's heart from beating was Envy's joy. The boy looked at him. His eyes almost lost, as if he had accepted his fate. From his strangled voice he whispered, a final plea.

"Save…me…"

Pride stopped, a memory stirred in his mind. Of another war in a different place and another young boy. Almost 19, the whole world ahead of him. Golden brown hair, almond eyes, a pool of blood, a lifetime washing away with the rain.

* * *

"I want to go home…" he sobbed. "I want to see Winry one last time, see mom's grave. I want to go home to Rizenbool." He whispered clutching his brother's shirt. "Shut up!" he screamed his fear seeping into his bones. "Don't talk like that! We've been through worst things than this!" he whispered desperate, pleading. "Don't leave me alone here, please…"

"It's so cold, so so cold. Niisan…save… me.." he whispered, his terror paralyzing him.

And all he could do was watch him die. After everything they've been through, all the sacrifices they made, it was almost funny to see him die in a gutter, in a war neither of them had anything to do with. But he could not find the strength to laugh.

"Perhaps we should've stayed in the gate." He whispered to his dead brother. "Perhaps all of this misery could've been forgotten." He said his tears falling. "I want to go home too…" he sobbed, his blood mixing with his brother's he too was shot after all.

"Al!" he screamed to the pouring rain. "Al!" he screamed, desperation drowning his voice, his heart breaking, his hopes ending.

"How could I lose you one more time?" he breathed. Clutching his lifeless body to him. "I could not protect you. I could not protect any of you." He sobbed thinking of all the people that had suffered because of him, died for him. Still happiness would not be granted to the two brothers forgotten by fate.

* * *

He pried Envy's hands from the boy's neck.

"What the fuck are you doing?" his brother yelled hitting him. "I brought you along cause mother wanted you to see. Don't get in the way."

"What have you done to me?" He whispered fury rising in his eyes.

"Eh?" Envy asked hitting him against the face.

"What have you done?" Pride screamed breaking Envy's fingers. His brother just smiled at the pain.

"So you've awakened then?" he laughed, the boy forgotten. The humonculus with confused golden eyes before him was a tastier prey. "He he I didn't think you would."

Envy took hold of his head and started pounding it on the floor, over and over. "You may only be part humonculi but you can still feel pain right?" he laughed beating him savagely.

Pride's eyes widened at the word humonculi, was he one? But it didn't make sense, he was Edward, he was Edward.

He got up and hit Envy across the body. Sending him sprawling across the floor. "heh, you've gotten stronger. Your body is still humonculi after all."

"Stop calling me that!" he screamed hitting him again, his vision blurred by the blood trickling down his face. _What is he saying? What the hell is he saying?_

"Shut up! Shut up!" he screamed, Envy had stopped his hand.

"What? Don't you remember Pride? Don't you remember what you are?" he laughed trying to tear his arms apart. Pride kicked him hard on the gut, his anger washing over him. He started hitting Envy, throwing him around the room. Envy stopped resisting, he didn't realize how strong Pride actually was, he tried to get up but he would already be there hitting him.

"Heh, don't be an idiot." He said out of breath, moving away from him. "Dante brought you back. You're nothing but a humonculi like me. Did you think you would be something else? Did you think you'd be human?" he laughed as blood started trickling from his mouth.

"Shut up!" Pride yelled.

"Do you want to know the truth brother?" he spat blood. "Do you really want to know what you are?"

"Shut the fuck up monster." Pride transmuted the concreted wall and surrounded Envy with it, trapping him in liquid cement.

"You're gonna pay for this Pride. You idiot!" he screamed before the cement covered his mouth as well. Suddenly Pride's eyes fell upon the gate appearing before him. It started to open.

"What is this?" he breathed. The boy behind him screamed finally finding his voice. Pride watched as the gate closed again and disappeared.

_That shouldn't happen. Why would it open?_

Suddenly he went down on his knees, memories started flooding into him. He clutched at his head, the images burning themselves into his mind. Of three children running in a field. Of a suit of armor. Of six people dressed in black. Of a different world. Of Al coming back with him. Of Al lying lifeless in his arms as he himself lay dying.

"Stop it, stop it!" he screamed crumpling to the floor. He felt as if he would explode. What was happening? He no longer knew where he was. He didn't know what he was.

He stood up and started running.

* * *

Roy looked at the intelligence report his detectives just handed in. A feeling of dread came over him as he looked at the picture in his hand.

"Chief.." his secretary called as a couple of military uniforms barged into his office. In the center of it a beautiful blond woman with brilliant red eyes.

"Brigadier General" Roy stood up saluting her.

"Chief." She spat his title as if it left an ugly taste in her mouth. "Leave us." She ordered the men. When they were all gone she sat in front of his desk, crossing her legs.

"Sit down idiot." She said humor in her eyes.

"Seems I have a lot of visitors from the military nowadays." He smiled at his old lover.

"Yes, things are starting to change." She said serious. "I came here following the Fuhrer's direct order. I am only to speak to you." She said holding out the envelope she had been carrying.

"What is this?" he asked, but he already knew what was inside.

"Two days ago a riot broke out in Boerhaven. According to witnesses a Nationally Certified Alchemist just attacked them. No provocation. He started shooting people with a gun he created form his hand and created explosions from mid air. He also took down entire infrastructures using only his fists."

Roy nodded not even opening the envelope.

"It sounds like the alchemy of three people."

"Me, Former Brigadier General Gran and the current Fuhrer." Roy said.

"Yes, I know of no one that can perform all three." Hawkeye said leaning in to him.

"Late last night another attack was made. This time in the Head of the outpost of Boerhaven. They were too busy calming the people down and providing relief. Two unknown men crept into the Brigadier General's house and attempted to murder his son."

"To force the military's hand?" he asked. Hawkeye nodded.

"The boy said one of them tried to save him. He had imprisoned the taller one in cement but by the time the army came there he had already escaped."

"The boy confirmed the man in that photograph was the one that saved him."

Roy opened the envelope. Taking the picture it contained out.

"This of course was not done by the military but the desired effect has come about. People are starting take arms. Two neighboring towns already took down their military outposts, throwing the personnel out." She said. "You don't seem to be surprised Chief." She comented as he looked at the picture.

"My intelligence report on the student leader by the name of Enjoras has come back as well." He said taking the picture he was looking at and placing it in front of Hawkeye.

One picture was of the riot in Boerhaven, a man with blond hair and golden eyes in military uniform stood in the center of the burning building.

One picture was of the student leader with another figure behind him, covered in a hood but his face clearly seen.

"Full metal"

* * *

He didn't know how long he had been running. He had not stopped. He needed to reach her. Needed to make sense of it all.

He entered Central.

* * *

Winry was packing her things, that night she would be sleeping in Roy's apartment. She felt sad in a way, sad to leave everything she was behind. But she was happy too. She can't remember the last time she felt this happy. It felt right to her.

Suddenly her front door burst open and she turned around to see who it was. She dropped the box she was carrying, its contents spilling on the floor.

Leaning on her door frame, blood flowing on the side of his face was Edward.

* * *

"Is it him?" Hawkeye asked concerned.

"I have no idea." Roy said leaning back in his chair.

"I have the warrant for his arrest." She said handing it to him. "Its shoot to kill."

Roy looked at it. Shaking his head.

"Give me time. I will take him down." He said quietly.

"This order is directly from the Fuhrer." She rebutted.

"Full metal is my responsibility. Please let me take care of it." Roy said looking over to her.

"Please Riza." He asked. She stopped. He rarely called her by her first name. Even when they were still lovers. As if it was an intimacy he was not prepared for.

"You still have a soft spot for him?" she smiled. "I guess even more now."

He frowned. She had never approved of his relationship with Winry. She had always thought it improper and he stopped trying to convince her.

In truth Riza Hawkeye was jealous of the younger girl. She had tamed the beast. She left him cause she could not take the philandering. Even when they tried to give it one more shot he was too broken. She detested his lack of ambition. The man she fell in love with was full of passion for what he believed in, the one that came back from that snowy mountain was empty. She knew then it would never work between them.

It didn't mean she didn't still love him.

But it wasn't for her that he stopped philandering. It wasn't for her that he started smiling again. It wasn't her that finally gave him peace.

"Three days Chief, that is all I can give you." She said standing up.

"Thank you." He said bowing to her. He didn't salute, didn't make any side comment. He bowed in supplication and Riza Hawkeye wanted to grieve. For the man he had become.

For the man he was for her.

* * *

"Ed?" she asked taking a step toward him. "Is that you?" she asked fighting the urge to run into his arms.

_Oh no. Not now._

"Winry…" he came stumbling towards her.

She caught him in her arms before he fell. "How…" she stopped unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god." He whispered sobbing into her arms.

"Ed…" she asked stroking his hair. Questions can be asked later.

"All I remember was Al dying in my arms." Her eyes widened as she heard this. "I was floating in the gate lost to everything. I didn't feel anything. I didn't want anything. I was ready to float into oblivion. But then I thought of you. I just wanted to see you one last time, hear your voice. Just see your face one last time…" he sobbed lost.

He looked up at her, his blood staining her white dress. "I opened the gate. I opened it." He muttered. She didn't understand, her tears falling.

"Al…Al is…" she gasped.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I couldn't save him." He said curling up in her arms, needing her to hold him.

"Is it really you?" she asked looking at his face. Her eyes fell upon the torn sleeve of his shirt. He was wearing a white shirt and a green vest and through the blood, she saw it. On his left shoulder he bore the mark of a humonculus.

Pride saw what she was looking at and tore at his skin wanting to rip the mark out of his body.

"Stop! Stop." She sobbed covering his hand with hers, blood trickling form it was well.

"Ed…Ed…" still she couldn't believe it.

"I'm not sure what I am anymore." He whispered broken.

She wrapped her arms around him. Holding him closer. Cradling his grief. Hers filling her up inside. Al was gone.

"I just wanted to go home." He whispered. She started, the memory of their first night together, of his promise. And she broke down too.

* * *

"Winry!" Roy burst into the room. She looked up at him. The man in her hands stopped shaking.

"So it is you." He said looking at Pride. Disbelief washing over him. "How?"

Pride looked at him, then at Winry. He then remembered how they walked across the town square holding hands. She had kissed him then.

"Him?" he cried as if she had betrayed him.

"Ed…" she reasoned. How was she going to explain that she waited. All these years she waited. And he returned on the day she had decided she would no longer love him.

He stood up and walked over to Roy. He shoved the older man against the wall hard. So hard he could feel a small stream of blood trickling on his nape. Pride gave him a look so full of hate, a face he never thought he'd see in the younger boy.

"How dare you!" he screamed at him.

"You left her behind. How dare you presume she'd wait." The older man shocked at the strength Pride had.

"Ed!" she screamed holding on to his arm. Pleading with him to let Roy down.

Pride turned to the old man. For a moment he thought Pride would hit him once more. The anger flashing through his eyes. Then he put him down and just before he turned away his face softened as if pleading with him.

Roy cocked his gun at Pride's head.

"Roy!" Winry screamed.

"I have to take him down. This man caused hundreds of deaths two days ago in Boerhaven. He's a murderer."

"What?" she looked at him. "Ed is this true?" she asked horrified.

"He's not Ed, Winry." Roy called. "The mark on his shoulder…"

Pride looked at the hole he had torn into his flesh. The blood seeping out of it. The dragon still chasing its tail.

"Ed…" she called going over to him. Then Pride ran. Roy shot at him before Winry stayed his hand.

"I have to go after him." Roy reasoned. "Stay here." He ran after Pride.

Winry watched as the two men in her life disappeared. She knew what she had to do then.

* * *

She stood in the middle of the old city. She knew he'd come here. She could hear Roy's gun firing at a distance. She saw him running into the chamber. He stopped looking at her.

"I'm not Edward." He said quietly. He wasn't even out of breath.

"Let me decide." She whispered going over to him.

"Winry!" Roy yelled running after Pride. He couldn't breathe. He knew Pride could've killed him anytime. He did not understand why he didn't.

Pride took her in his arms then and began running again taking Winry with him.

"Winry!" Roy yelled. He fell to the floor exhausted, he couldn't run anymore. "Winry!"


	4. Chapter 4

4

Pride closed the door to the storage compartment they had snuck into. They were headed north. Winry didn't ask any questions, she just looked at him.

"Let me see your wounds." She said remembering that he was still bleeding. His blood staining both of their clothes.

"They've already closed." He said not looking at her. They already healed on their own. He was after all just an artificial body. An empty shell.

"I'm not him you know." Pride said sitting in front of her as the train started to move. "I'm not Edward."

"Did what Roy say really happen?" she asked.

"Look away for a while." He asked.

"Why?"

"Please." He pleaded. Winry turned her back to him and heard the sound of a transmutation taking place. She turned around to see him holding a lantern in his hand, he touched the wick with his hands and a small flame started filling the car with a soft yellow glow. She had seen Roy do that once but she could not remember Ed being able to.

He looked at her as her eyes widened at his display of power. How could he explain that everytime he would use his alchemy the gate would open? How could he explain that he wielded all the alchemy every performed in their world? How could he explain what he had become?

He slowly took his shirt off, her eyes shot toward his shoulder, seeing his would already healed. She then started to notice the web of intricate tattoos ingrained in his back, snaking their way down his arms. Swirls of red masking his nakedness. They looked like a transmutation circle circle, but this last truth she kept to herself.

She reached up tentatively, tracing the patterns with her fingers, not understanding what they were for.

"What have they done to you?" she asked quietly.

"I was born one year ago. A mind a body but no soul." He answered looking at his mark. The mark of a humonculi. "Some time ago I started having dreams. I thought they were just that, illusions of something I did not understand."

Winry stopped and looked at him. The sadness in his voice filling her up inside as well.

"But then I started feeling things too. These illusions, were bringing with them this unbearable sadness, this longing that I could not place and this aching feeling that I was supposed to remember." He said sounding lost. "When I saw you on that market place, something in me remembered who you were. My heart remembered who you were to me."

"Ed?" she asked looking up at him. Was it really him? Had he really come back for her.

"I am the humonculus Pride. That is my name. I don't know what part of me is Ed, but I did those things." He said quietly suddenly ashamed. "I killed those people. Whatever part of me that is still human, must've died with them."

He looked at her, raising her face to his so she would look him in the eye. "I am not Edward."

Her tears started, it welled up in the corner of her eyes and Pride's heart broke. He never wanted to see her crying.

"But how can you remember those things you said?" she asked confused. "Were they lies?"

"No." he said quietly looking into her eyes. They were asking him to lie.

"So Al is really…" she couldn't say it.

He nodded.

Winry was swimming, how could he remember such things? How could he feel so much like Ed and not be him? How could he come back to her and still not be him?

Pride looked at her, she seemed so lost. And he recognized something in her eyes, something he had always seen in his own and he felt afraid. Afraid of her sorrow, of her despair. Afraid they would always stain her heart. Pride brought his hand to the lamp and created a shadow puppet of a dog. He barked a little to make her smile.

Winry laughed at the memory, they had always made shadow puppets when they were young when Pinako had already told them to go to bed. They would steal the lamp and hide under the covers and make shadow puppets. The dog was always Al. It was the only one he knew how to make.

"Was he happy there?" she asked a distant look upon her face as she watched the dog barking.

"Yes." He said unable to continue, it hurt to think of Al. And this confused Pride even more. Suddenly Winry started crying. She tried to hold it in, putting her hand to her mouth to keep from sobbing. But as the pain built up in her heart, all she could do was lose herself in the deluge of her pain.

She leaned on Pride's back, placing her head on the back of his shoulders as if ashamed to let him see her in tears.

Al was gone.

And Pride's heart broke. He started shaking, the reality of it filling him up inside. Al who had lost everything, who had given everything. How unfair it seemed. How cruel fate was.

Pride's tears began then. He began mourning for the life his brother could not live, for the life he left behind to be with him, for the girl he would never see again.

"Please…" he pleaded facing her. Placing his forehead on hers, like he used to. He could not bear it. "Please don't cry…" he whispered.

Winry could feel her heart stop, refusing to beat again, refusing to believe that one third of her life was gone. They were after all, three together. All three of them made one whole. Without Al she would never be whole, she would never be complete.

She kissed him then. In her need to fill up the emptiness of losing one third of herself. She held on to him as if he would be taken away too.

"Winry…" Pride turned away. "I'm not…" she placed her hands on his lips.

"Please, just for tonight be mine. Be Edward." She whispered her tears refusing to stop falling. "Don't let me feel like I've lost everything that mattered." She said holding on to him.

Pride laid her down then. He looked at her deep blue eyes lost in their grief and touched her face with his hands. He would've given his soul just to make her stop crying. Given up everything to take away her pain.

She pulled him to her, taking his lips again. She closed her eyes as she felt his hands on her, feeling her, needing her as much as she needed him.

_I'm sorry…I'm so sorry._

She whispered over and over, apologizing for her betrayal.

* * *

Roy was driving. He knew there was only one place they would go. He had missed the train and the next one in the morning would be too late.

He was so afraid. He needed to know she was safe.

He needed her to be safe.

He could not lose her. She was the only thing in his life that made sense now.

Edward won't take her away, he would not let him.

* * *

Pride watched as she lay sleeping in his arms. He brought his hand to his eyes. He remembered how his automail felt like. It was suddenly strange to find his body whole again.

He wanted so desperately to be him. He wanted to be the one she wanted him to be. He wanted her to love him too.

"Winry…" he whispered waking her. "We have to get off in the next station."

Winry woke up feeling him shift beside her. She looked at him and smiled, feeling his face with her hands, reminding herself it wasn't him. Her heart felt like breaking then.

She felt the blanket he had transmuted on her and saw her clothes were no longer blood stained and torn. She looked at him get dressed, his shirt whole again. He had transmuted them while she was asleep.

He opened the door to the car and the familiar country side greeted them. He took her in his arms and jumped off as the train started losing speed entering the station. They started walking towards the yellow house in the distance.

Winry laughed a little and Pride turned to look at her.

"You're taller than me now." She stuck her tongue out at him, placing her hand on top of his head. He was after all a good four inches taller than her now. He smiled then.

* * *

He looked on the grave stone marking her name. He traced the writing with his fingers. Twenty years.

He thought about bringing Al back, back in the other world, in his desperation just before he died, he remembered going through the recipe book in his mind again: 250 g of sulfur, 4000 ml of water, 6000g carbon…

What he would give just to have him back. He would give all of it. Exchange all of it. But he knew Al wouldn't want that. He was at peace now wherever he was. Waiting for him.

Twenty years. It seemed like a lifetime.

Winry came up next to him; she had picked flowers in the field. She smiled at him and placed the flowers on Trisha's grave.

He looked at her wishing he could take everything back. Change that night twenty years ago. Maybe Al would still be alive, maybe he would still be Edward, maybe Winry could finally stop crying. Maybe.

He whispered a farewell to his mother then. Cradled beneath the earth silent to everything.

"Ed?" she said after some time. He started, why would she still call him that?

"I don't think I have the right to that name anymore." He said quietly.

"I know you and Al have seen things I would never understand. Things that have changed you permanently." She started. "But I know the real Ed. And I feel him in you. If some part of him still exists in you, if some part of him is still alive in you then that is all I need." She said taking his hands in hers.

"You came back to me…" she whispered smiling at him.

"Winry? Oh my god Winry-chan is that you?"

They were walking along beside the main road, heading towards the house when a woman with three children called out to them.

"Maya?" Winry laughed going over to her.

"Edward is that you?" she called waiving to him.

"Oh my gosh are these your children?" Winry asked picking up the youngest one. "You got busy." She laughed.

Pride watched them. He did not recognize the woman but he didn't say anything anymore. The two women started talking, he watched her laugh and smile and thought how stunningly beautiful she looked with a child on her hip.

"They must be beautiful." A voice said beside him. He turned to see an old woman standing next to him, her wrinkled face smiling.

"I'm sorry?" he asked.

"You and Winry-chan's children." She commented.

He looked at her then, she was making faces at the baby, the baby laughing at her, holding on to the strap of her dress. She looked so perfect then. As if she was meant to be carrying that baby. Pride felt ashamed.

That was the one thing he could not give her. In trying to fix their past, they had forgotten about their future. In going to the other world he had turned his back on Winry and the future they could've had together. He had given her up to save a world that wasn't even his. And now it was too late.

"Come on Mama." Maya called to the old lady.

Winry kept waving at them. Overjoyed at the idea of her friend being so happy. She turned to look at Pride, he was heading towards a different direction.

"Ed?" she called. He just turned to look at her, a smile on his face, the setting sun filtering through his hair. It was then Winry realized how handsome Ed was and how lonely he seemed. She watched him climb up the hill, his hands in his pockets. He looked like Hohenheim then. He walked the hill with no urgency with a melancholy that came from people who have seen too much in their lifetime.

They stood before the ruins of the old house. The debris was all but covered by grass now; even flowers were starting to grow. The old tree was alive again. It almost seemed peaceful.

"I'm thinking of rebuilding it." Pride said as she stood next to him.

"Really?" Winry beamed. She had always wanted to rebuild the old house. It didn't seem right to leave it there abandoned. They had spent so many wonderful years in that house, leaving it in shambles was like forgetting about those years, like they never existed. Finally Ed was coming home.

"We can't bury what we did in the past." He said looking thoughtfully at the ruins. "Burying it under the ground does not erase what we did. We can however learn from. Build again from it."

"I'm so happy to hear you say that." She smiled wrapping her arms around his left arm and placing her head on his shoulder.

"Do you love him?" he asked quietly. Winry stopped.

"I do." She said suddenly remembering what she had left behind.

"Do you not love me anymore?" Pride asked not looking at her. Winry drew her head away, looking at the ruins, wishing their lives could be as resilient. Even through fire and ash the flowers found life. Why couldn't they be same? Why couldn't they leave the past behind? Why does it have to hurt them so much every time?

"I don't think I ever stopped." She whispered quietly.

"I don't know what I am. I don't know what's left in me to give. But if you can forgive me for being away for so long, if you choose to love me, I promise I won't ever leave you again." He said.

Winry's heart knew then what it meant to really despair. She no longer knew what she wanted.

* * *

She fell asleep in his arms, curled up against him. Pride wanted to stop the time. Make the world stop turning. What he would give just to keep her in his arms. All those years he had put Al ahead of him, making sure of his happiness first even at the expense of his own. Perhaps now he could be allowed to have happiness of his own. He covered her with the blanket and went outside.

He went to her grave again and started carving Al's name on the tomb stone. When he finished he thought about leaving. A thought crossed his mind, of his father dying on the other side, of how lonely he seemed staying away from the woman he loved to save his sons from finding the truth about him. He thought of him, of his blood staining the ground. He started carving Hohenheim then, next to his mother's name. The closest he'll ever be to her now. And he felt sorry for him.

He stopped as he realized a familiar smell pervaded the air.

"What are you doing here?" he asked anger rising in his voice.

"I offered you the world. And you return to this?" she said coming closer to him. "Ruins in an unknown town? Nothing but graves and a silly little girl." She laughed.

"Pathetic aren't you?" she asked. "So like your father."

"I am not like him!" he seethed.

"I gave him an eternity. What did she give him?" she said leaning against the tree. The conversation evidently tiring her.

"What did you do to me?" he said standing up. "What have I become?"

"I did nothing but finish what you started." She said her voice cold.

"Why did you bring me back? For what purpose?" he sighed afraid of what he would hear.

"You really do not know?" she asked amused. "You opened that gate of your own" she said laughing. "I did not think it possible but you did."

"What?"

"You opened that gate and came through, more dead than alive. I fused your body to another humonculus and bound your soul to that vessel."

"Then I am a humonculus." He said dread filling him up inside.

"I can offer you another choice." She continued, malice creeping into her smile.

"What can you do now?" he said turning away from her. "You have wilted away to almost nothing."

"I am centuries ahead of you boy." She said laughing. "Centuries worth of alchemy in my hands. I can give you anything. Even a future with your silly little girl."

"If I make you the philosopher's stone?" he finished for her.

"Think of it child. Before you lose her again." She laughed.

Pride started, he suddenly realized what she was saying and started running back towards the house. He burst open the door afraid of what he already knew. They had already taken her.

* * *

He had been driving almost all day. Stopping only to get fuel. He was tired and he needed to get some rest but he would not stop. Not until he sees her again.

He was nearing Rizembool, the night train had already started its way back to Central. He was about to take the turn into Rizembool when something caught his eye. At the back of the train stood a humonculi carrying a girl and another young girl dressed in black. His hear stopped as he realize the young girl the humonculi was carrying was Winry.

He slammed on the breaks of the car and sent it careening on its side. Another second later he was already outside taking aim at the two people. He put down the gun.

"It's too far." Pride noted standing next to him. Roy didn't even hear him approach.

"How could you let them take her?" he asked anger rising in his voice.

"I will get her back." He said his expression not changing. "There is only one place they can go…"


	5. Chapter 5

5

"Look at her." Dante said bending over Winry as she lay unconscious on the couch. "Strikingly plain."

"I hear a great amount of bitterness in your voice." Envy laughed watching as his mother caressed the younger woman's face.

"Even Rose had a much better body than this one. She was exotic, this one is just plain." She said standing up again.

"So why didn't you just let me kill her? Break Pride's heart a little." Envy asked getting bored.

"I have plans for that one." She said smiling.

"What could possibly hurt Pride more than to take that girl's life?" he asked leaning to look at her, gauging her neck, calculating how much force was needed to crush her trachea.

"He opened that gate to be with her." Dante said staring at the passing countryside. "Imagine how much he must've loved her." She said quietly.

He watched as she stood there detecting a hint of envy in her voice.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled turning to Pride. "Where the hell were you?"

"I was outside." He said his face still not betraying any emotions.

Roy swung at him, he was becoming irrational now. He didn't know if it was the lack of sleep or the fear of losing Winry. He just wanted to hurt Pride.

He was getting tired. He cursed himself. Not ten minutes into the fight and already he was panting. He put on his glove. He rarely used it now. He started sending explosions into the air. Getting desperate with every snap of his fingers.

"You're becoming slow, old man." He laughed.

"Why would you do this to her? For years she would cry herself to sleep. For years how inconsolable she was." he asked panting. "Why come back at all?"

Pride stopped. Why did he come back? If what Dante said was true that he was the one that opened that gate. He was the one that wanted to be brought back.

He kicked Roy hard on his gut and he pulled his feet from under him, sending the older man on his back in the grass. Pride stood over him , both his hands on either side of the older man's head.

"Don't I deserve to be happy too?" he asked quietly. He wasn't even out of breath. Pride's heart ached every time he was reminded he was a humonculus. Every reminder took him farther away from her.

"What if they hurt her?" he asked getting up.

"They won't." he said as if it was absurd to think otherwise. "Not if they want me to do what they ask."

They stood there awhile. Watching as the tiny stream of smoke coming from the train disappearing into the horizon.

"Why did you hold back? You could've killed me back in Central too." Roy stated not even looking at his companion. "Why didn't you?"

"It would've made her sad." He said simply.

Roy Mustang looked at the boy before him. When he came back with all those invaders years ago, he knew Edward had grown up. In the way he carried himself, in his decisions. And he felt a fatherly pride as he watched him sail away in the alien plane. Giving everything up to do the right thing. Sacrificing everything he could've gained.

Now looking at him, in his borrowed body. He just looked broken. Defeated. As if he just came home to die. And this brought such sorrow to the older man's heart; he could not help but grieve for him. For all he had lost.

"We have to go after them." Pride said turning to go into the car. He got into the passenger seat closing the door behind him.

Roy stared at him. He had been driving 20 straight hours and his back was killing him. Pride stared back at the older man, not registering what he was silently protesting.

"What? I don't know how to drive." He said annoyed. Roy couldn't help but smile. Ed really still was alive in him.

* * *

Riza Hawkeye watched as her husband kissed the boys lying in their beds. Tomorrow her eldest would turn three. She walked over to her office and sat down in her chair her face in her hands.

She heard him walk past her door. Hesitate a moment before moving on. He knew better than to disturb her in her office.

Brigadier General.

The irony of it all. She entered the military to be close to Roy, to protect him. But now when he needed the to be protected the most, she would not leave the military. Her priorities had changed so much it seemed.

She thought of him. Of his handsome face and his kind words. Of his shattered soul and the pain he was in. She wanted to protect him but it was no longer in her power to do so.

This was her life now.

Her eyes fell upon the letter on her desk. It was from the Fuhrer asking her to hunt down Edward Elric and everyone else that would stand in her way.

She knew Armstrong would never ask her to do this, not unless he had no other choice either. Edward's threat was too great. He had destroyed that city. Murdered so many people. Armstrong still had his citizens to protect.

"Oh Edward…" she whispered suddenly tired.

She opened her drawer and took out one last picture. It was of their first summer together. They were so young then. Roy had always been so trigger happy with the camera. Every moment he could catch her unaware he would take a picture of her. She had boxes full of pictures and she had burned every one of them. All but this one picture.

It was taken by Havoc in one of their reconnaissance missions in the mountains. Roy was holding up the fish he had caught and she was looking at him smiling. She rarely smiled even now, which was why this picture was so important to her. It showed her weakness, one she had taken so many pains to hide.

She looked at Roy smiling in the picture and of her so many years ago. She was so happy then.

She looked at him.

Her only weakness.

* * *

Pride watched the road, his mind lost. As he slowly recovered his memories, one by one they would return. Slowly he felt himself becoming more and more human. Slowly the guilt started crawling in his gut. His throat becoming dry every time he thought of everyone he had killed. All those voices, all those faces. He was a monster.

How could he ever regain what he had lost? He lost all of himself. How do you gain that back?

He thought about Winry about how wonderful it felt like to have her in his arms. How much he wanted to just stay there, be with her, forget everything else. He was tired of putting everyone else ahead of him. He was tired of putting off his happiness. Didn't he deserve to be selfish just this once?

If the law of equivalent trade was true where was his trade? All the pain, all the hardships, everything he had done. Still he lost Al, still he lost Winry, still he lost himself.

Roy was falling asleep. It was his fifth time to go off the road, Pride would have to nudge him awake. He was getting old. He never thought it possible.

He could not afford to lose Winry. His world would shatter if he did.

"Teach me how." Pride stated annoyed. "I can't save her if I die in this contraption with you."

Roy smiled. That was very Edward.

* * *

"You're going to get us killed!" he screamed pulling the wheel to the side, as Pride drove the car into a ditch by the side of the road. They looked at each other and started laughing.

They got out and started pushing the car, it didn't take long with Pride's strength. They stopped for awhile, watching the sunrise.

"I really do love her you know." He said quietly, shivering in the early morning air.

Pride nodded.

"I can't lose her." He said desperate.

Pride looked at the older man. Never did he imagine Roy Mustang would say those words. Never did he think he would hear desperation in his voice. Things have changed so much it seemed.

Every moment he started getting his memories back, becoming more human, becoming Edward. He wanted to hope there could be a way to be with Winry, he wanted to hope there was some other choice. But the more human he became, the more he realized the impossibility of it all.

He was humonculi. He could not love.

He looked at Roy. His pained face, his aging hands. If being human meant imperfection, if being human meant having weaknesses and feeling pain then he wished he could be those things.

He came back just to see her, if he could not give her what she wanted, maybe Roy could. He looked at the older man now, and he knew deep down in his heart he knew what he wanted no longer mattered. All that mattered now was her.

* * *

Winry's head was throbbing, her vision blurry as she opened her eyes. She saw Envy's face peering down on her.

"So you're awake." He stated simply.

"Where am I?" she asked rubbing her head.

"In paradise of course." He laughed standing up.

Winry looked around the room. She was in an old styled Victorian room. The furniture was from an ear long since forgotten. The room smelled of a sickly sweet perfume. Where was she?

"Where's Ed?" she asked softly to herself.

"Oh you mean Pride?" Envy asked. "That's why you're here. To make sure he comes."

"Did you bring him back?" she asked wanting to know the truth. "Why did you do this to him?"

"Idiot! Pride brought himself back. He crossed that gate on his own." He spat anger rising in his voice. "If we didn't need him to transmute the philosopher's stone, I would've killed him already."

"What?"

"Envy!" Dante scolded him entering the room. Envy stomped out, giving her one hard look.

"Sorry about him. He's rather spoiled." She smiled.

"Do you feel better?" she asked going over to the girl.

"Yes." She said not knowing who the woman was.

"He'll come get you child don't worry." She said running her hands on Winry's cheek. Winry shuddered at how they felt. They were so cold.

_Hohenheim's son will love me_.


	6. Chapter 6

6

They entered Central by dusk. The chaos in the city was incomprehensible. It did not resemble the city he had left two days ago.

The war had broken out in the streets. Common people were taking up arms against the military.

Pride watched as he passed countless of wounded on the streets. His mind shifted back to the old world. He remembered a world at war and his brother dying in the street.

He closed his eyes. He had had enough of wars, of deaths and regret. He had had enough of regret.

* * *

"Why are humans so preoccupied by love anyway?" Envy asked lazily watching the younger girl in the room. Winry looked at him. "It's just a liability. It doesn't really last. Why give everything up for something so inconsistent?"

"Maybe it's what makes us human." She said simply. "Believing in the impossible."

"I don't miss being human." He laughed.

"Then you don't know what it really means to be one." She said sadly. Remembering Pride and the pain in his eyes knowing he would never be human again.

"Are you saying you are better than me?" Envy asked getting riled up.

"Yes." Winry said, she had ceased being afraid of him.

"You little bitch!" he came towards her and grabbed her face pulling her towards him. Winry didn't flinch. Envy smiled. "So you aren't afraid of me?"

"No."

"Is that how much you trust Pride? You know he'll save you?"

"It's not about being saved. It's about not having any regrets." She said simply staring him straight in the face. "I've lived my life. I've loved completely. And I have lost everything. What else is there for me to be afraid of?"

Envy pulled her towards him and gave her a long deep kiss. Winry tried to pry herself from his grasp. Envy spat on the ground.

"Is this what true love tastes like?" he laughed. "All you taste of is decaying flesh."

Winry wrapped her arms around her knees. She was cold. She was shivering in the middle of an old theater. The curtains still hanging on the stage as if waiting for a last performance.

She loved Roy. She knew she did. But now Edward was home too.

She was so young when she fell in love with Edward. Even before she knew of the world she knew she loved him. Before life had tainted her, she had given her heart to him. Would it still be the same? If death did not change his love, did life change hers?

She wasn't the same girl waiting at home for him anymore. She had her own life now. With Roy.

She fell in love with him when she had nothing left. She just wanted to live the rest of her life alone. Remembering the two boys that made up the other two thirds of her life.

But then Roy came, he made her smile again, made her believe she had another choice. That her life didn't have to be full of regret. That it was possible to be happy with whatever was left of her. And she loved him for it.

She thought of Edward. Of how young they were. Of how many things have changed. She thought of him. Of everything they had together. Of everything they had lost.

"Thinking of him?" Dante asked going over to the young woman in her ball room. She looked at her captor, her eyes betraying what she had felt.

"Envy is upset with you." Dante laughed. "You should be flattered. Envy doesn't let a lot of things get to him."

"Right." She answered listless. What did she care what that monster thought of her.

"Its hard isn't it?" she smiled going over to her, running her hands through her hair. "To love so completely it consumes you from within?"

"What do you know about love?" she answered angry.

"I know more than you ever will." She said laughing. "I know the pain doesn't end. I know that time doesn't exist for love. It hurts the same as it did the morning he walked away." She whispered looking lost.

"I know the truth about love." She smiled turning her to look at him.

She held up her hand to Winry's chest, a light flashed for a moment and Winry felt the a deep burning on her chest. She clutched at her dress, pulling it down desperately to stop the pain. She saw then the transmutation circle burned on her skin.

"Love lies." Dante said quietly. "And it can be fooled."

"What…" She couldn't speak anymore, suddenly her voice was silenced.

"If my heart can't have Hohenheim then it'll take his son." She said walking toward Winry. Winry stepped back but her body would not follow her commands anymore.

"He's….not…" every word was agony to her. Her voice could no longer be forced.

"The heart is a fickle thing. When you have lived as long as I have. When you have loved as many men as I have. It no longer remembers the man, all that remains constant is the love it bore for him. I will love Edward and he will love me." She looked at Winry then, caressing the mark burning on her chest.

"My soul is attached to your body now." She smiled. "When he transmutes the philosopher's stone I will transfer my soul completely to you."

Winry watched with horror as she wrapped her arms around her. Her cold cheek brushing against hers. "He will love me. My heart will love Hohenheim in him."

"no…"

"When I see that look he gives you. When I see that smile he smiles just for you." She smiled sadly. "You didn't know what you had child."

Winry collapsed to the floor, her legs would not support her weight. Suddenly she was aware of the other presence in her body. The one controlling her from across the room. She could feel her cold breath. Of a life that hasn't died for centuries, rotting from the core.

_Edward…

* * *

_

They were running into the underground city. Knowing they would be there. They were nearing the church when they saw her standing in front of the altar.

"Brigadier General." Roy greeted her.

"It really is you isn't it?" she said looking at Pride. "I knew you'd find a way back." She smiled at him.

"I have direct orders from the Fuhrer." She continued sadly. "I cannot let you pass."

"Please don't get in our way." Pride said, looking the silver pistol aimed at his heart. He wouldn't let anything stop him, he had come too far.

"I can't let you live Edward. Not after everything you've done." She said not putting the pistol down.

"I will return." He said sadly, remembering Boerhaven. "I give you my word, I will stand trial for my sins, but for now, please let me pass." He said resolute. He had to save her, no matter what the cost.

Hawkeye was about to protest when Roy put his hand on Pride's shoulder.

"Go on." He said nodding towards the underground tunnel.

"Don't get caught up in this Chief." She said pointing the gun at Pride as he started walking towards the altar. Roy stood in her way, barring the gun.

"Please Brigadier General." He said pleading with her. "My three days aren't up."

"The direct order was to kill Edward…and anyone else who gets in the way." She said cocking the gun at him.

"Trust Edward." He said not flinching. "Trust him to do the right thing."

"Is it really him?" she asked quietly. Part of her still loved those two boys, still thought of them fondly. Before she had two of her own, Ed and Al were like her children. She had hoped they found peace in that other world, hoped they could finally be happy. Children should never despair. But knowing Ed had come back, knowing what he was now, she knew things had gone wrong. Terribly wrong.

"I don't know." Roy answered her. "I think part of him is." He said looking at the tunnel.

"I always knew we'd end up at the altar." Roy laughed. "Of course a gun wasn't in my plans then." He smiled at the gun in her hands.

"Please Colonel." She begged. "Walk away from this." She wanted to ask him to consider his future with Winry. If he let Edward free he would be court martialed, he would have to be imprisoned. Demoted from whatever rank he still held. They would strip him of everything. She wanted to ask him to salvage whatever was left of his life.

"I can't." He looked at her and smiled, almost apologetic. "It's too late."

Riza Hawkeye shot him then.

"OW..what was that for?" he asked grabbing his shoulder, the blood starting to seep through his clothing.

"Cause you're an idiot. This way you can say he forced you to help him. " She smiled. "Bring her back alive Colonel." She said walking away.

Roy thanked her and started running towards the underground tunnel.

"Come back alive." She whispered her tears falling.

* * *

"Winry!" he called going over to her. Seeing her face, relief washed over him. He had not realized how afraid he was of losing her till then.

When he walked out on her so many years. When he abandoned her, he had abandoned his heart as well. He never loved another. She was always with him. Now that he had her back he would never let her go. He did not know how to survive her.

"Are you alright?" He wrapped his arms around her shivering shoulders.

_Let me be happy. All I want is her. Surely that isn't too much? Please, please, please let me be happy. This time please. Please._

She looked up at him, desperate to tell him of what Dante did, to show him the mark on her chest, desperate to ask him to save her. The other presence filling her up, squeezing out what life she had left.

He felt her cheek with the palm of his hand, knowing something was wrong. He looked at her eyes, they were so afraid. "Winry?"

"So you're here." She smiled coming into the theater. "How are you Pride?"

"Or is it Edward now?" she laughed.

Roy walked in then, it was evident that he had been shot. His left shoulder was lower than the right and blood was trickling down his arm. In his good hand he pointed the gun at Dante.

"Let them go." He said not looking at them.

"Oh isn't this interesting?" Dante laughed looking at the Colonel. "My theater will have one more performance it seems." She clapped her hands.

"Oh how interesting this little meeting has become." She smiled. "You are Roy Mustang are you not?"

"Who are you? What do you want with us?" he said.

"Oh nothing really. It is Edward that wants something from me." She smiled looking at the two children crouched in the middle of the transmutation circle.

"Beautiful isn't he? A humonculus with a soul. Almost human."

"Leave them alone. Why do this?" he asked his need to protect them taking over. He loved them both.

"It is funny you should say those words when it is your life he wants to steal." She laughed sitting in her chair.

"What?" he asked looking over at Pride.

"Or is it, he wants his life back? The one you stole from him?" she laughed even harder now.

"What is it that you're saying?" he said remembering Edward's report on humonculus and the Philosopher's stone.

"What is it we all want?" She smiled crossing her legs. "All of us in this room want one thing." She looked over at Pride.

"What is you want Pride?" she laughed, malice in her voice. "Tell me what is the one thing your little heart desires?"

Pride would not answer her. He was rubbing Winry's back, he didn't know what was wrong.

"Pride?" she asked annoyed.

"Leave her out of this." He almost pleaded.

"Happiness. Isn't that what you want? The one thing denied you all these years. Since that fateful night twenty years ago." She continued as if she didn't hear him. "Happiness."

"What do you want?" Roy asked getting distracted.

"I want what Edward wants. I want what Winry wants. I want what you want." She smiled leaning on her hand. "I want to love. I want to be happy. Make the loneliness end."

"Unfortunately it isn't so simple is it?" she smiled walking over to Pride and Winry. "See he loves her, and you love her." She said pointing to them both. "Who does she love then?" she laughed then, her cold voice sending shivers down Roy's spine.

"Who will she choose?" she said running her hands through Winry's hair as she sat there frozen. "Who do you want lovely? Who do you want raising your children? Who do you want to hold you close late at night?" Pride drew her away from Dante.

"Ha ha really Edward." She said going over to him. "I'm not so bad. You should know. Didn't you make love to me two days ago? Didn't you say you love me?"

Pride's eyes wandered to Winry's, telling her it wasn't him. That she made him do it. He tried to tell her he had never betrayed her.

"What is it you want?" Roy asked angry. "Don't play with our lives. You don't have the right."

"I have every right. I made Pride, I brought Edward back. It almost killed me but it's worth it. Just to see your face, just to see how this will end."

"I can give you everything you want my love." She whispered placing her head on his back, wrapping her arms around him. "I can give you that future you want. A little house. A tiny little garden. Children playing in the field. Her hand in yours, forever."

"Don't listen to her Edward." Roy said seeing the desire in Pride's eyes.

"I can give you everything. Don't you deserve some happiness too?" she said whispering in his ear. "Restore me to my power and I will make you human." She breathed brushing her lips against his neck. "Give you the future you so desperately want."

"You can have children with her. Live the life you could not." He looked at Winry, her tears were beginning to fall. Her desperation, her frustration at not being able to tell him what Dante was doing.

"You crossed that gate for her, walked away from death just to see her face." She smiled as she saw the desire rise in Pride's eyes. "Will you let him take her away from you?"

He looked at her. How he wanted to stay with her. How he wanted to just be with her. Hear her breathe. Watch her sleep in his arms. Feel her hand in his. He had crossed lifetimes just to find out he could not be with her.

"No more sadness love. You've been through enough of that." She said looking down at Winry too. "Make me the stone and take happiness where you find it."

"Take it. I offer you the one thing you could never have."

He watched as Winry's tears kept falling. He wiped them away with his hand. That was all he wanted. To be able to wake up next to her. To be able to be with her. Surely that wasn't too much to ask?

He drew his hand to her face again. Brushing them against her cheek. A soft look came unto his eyes and he smiled at her. His one happiness.

He looked at Dante then, a different smile upon his face. He drew the front of her dress, revealing the mark on her skin. He had found her secret out.

"How could you know that?" Dante started stepping away from him. "You would not be able to detect that mark!"

Pride passed his hand over the mark and slowly it turned to ash and fell from her chest, breaking Dante's hold, breaking her claim on her soul.

"Ed…" Winry fell into his arms. Relief flooding over her.

"If you kill me, there will be no one to make you human." She pleaded falling to her knees, her soul too fragmented to support her body. "I am the only one who can make you human. Give you what you want."

"Look at her Edward!" she screamed as Pride started walking towards her. "Would you let her go? When you crossed heaven and earth just to be with her?"

"You're one chance at happiness?"

He took her in his arms and looked lovingly in her eyes. "Winry. I know this may very well be the last chance I'll ever get to be with you. I'm sorry for abandoning you so many times in the past. For causing you so much pain. For never choosing you."

"All I wanted was to see you one last time, see you smile, hear you laugh. To be able to hold you again was more than anything I could've hoped for." He stopped kissing her forehead as her tears began again.

"But I can't do this. I can't love you if that love was paid for by other people's lives."

"I can't give you what I don't have. I am half of who I was. And half is not enough." It was the truth and it broke his heart. He was letting her go. His one chance of happiness. His only reason for existing.

"I think its time for our story to end. Take the life you can have with Roy. Have his children." He smiled touching her face with his hands. Remembering everything he could. "I never stopped loving you. Not for one moment."

He walked over to Dante, tore the shirt from her decaying body. His hand passed over her seal. "You idiot! What are you doing?" she screamed holding on to every bit of life she could. "I offered you everything you wanted! Why give her up? Why give up your last chance at happiness?"

"Because she deserves more than me, more than what I could ever give." He whispered breaking her seal completely. Sending her into oblivion.

He carried Winry over to Roy, placing her at his feet. "Take care of her for me." He smiled sadly holding her face in both his hands. He kissed her forehead. Telling her good bye.

There was one more thing he had to do.

* * *

Winry felt Roy's arms close around her. She could feel his blood dripping form his shoulder. He was hurt. She looked at him. At his tired eyes and handsome face. She loved him, she was sure of this. A future with Roy Mustang made her heart happy. She thought of the children she would bear. Of the house she would live in. Of falling asleep with his hand in hers.

She watched as Pride went over to draw another transmutation circle in the center.

"What have you done?" Envy screamed seeing his mother lying on the floor. His eyes were drawn to Winry, hoping she would be there. When he found no sign of her, he felt afraid. He had never been without her. Even on the other side of the gate he could feel her with him. Now he could feel nothing.

Envy lounged at him. His fists hitting Pride on his face. He had stopped fighting. What was the point? Envy threw him across the room, Pride skidded to a stop right before the wall. Envy picked him up and slammed him hard against it, his body suddenly misaligned. He started hitting Pride taking out all of his grief, his fear, his hatred. His blows marring Pride's handsome face as if Envy was washing away his pain with Pride's blood.

"Edward!" Winry screamed as she watched him being beaten to death. Roy held her back. This was what Pride had wanted.

Pride felt the pain. Felt the burning sensation wherever Envy's hits would land. He felt it. He had enough of it. Enough of this world. Enough of the pain. Enough of loss. Enough of his heart breaking.

"Edward…" he could hear her screaming his name. Relished the sound of her voice. He would lose her now. Lose all of her. Deep down inside Pride felt his soul fragment. Shattering into a thousand pieces, he couldn't breathe from the pain, his heart could not comprehend losing her.

But he knew she had no future with him. Knew he would bring no happiness to her. She deserved a small house, children on her hip, a husband that would hold her late at night. Things he could not give.

He could see the deranged look on Envy's eyes, he was getting ready to kill him. And Pride closed his eyes and put down his hands, ready for the oblivion. Ready for whatever emptiness awaited him in the gate, without her.

He felt it, the warm stickiness of blood spilling onto his face. He opened his eyes, he did not feel anything. And he wished to all the gods he knew it had been his blood staining the circle. Winry had stepped in between him and Envy. Just before he buried his hand in her gut.

She looked up at him. Her face apologetic, her smile sad.

"Winry…" he screamed holding on to her. "No…no…no…" he whispered.

* * *

She looked over at Roy. Saw the fear in his eyes as Envy drew his hand from her body, saw the despair in them as her blood stained the ground.

Wishing she could give all of her to him. If she hadn't given so much to Edward perhaps she could've started a new life with Roy. Perhaps she could've been happy. How do you start again when you had nothing left?

A lifetime full of regret.

She wished he had fallen in love with another.

And she apologized over and over. It was Edward that she loved.

* * *

Pride clutched her body to his. Disbelief filling his heart. As if by sheer will he could make the hole in her belly disappear. His hands now stained with her blood, her body limp against his. He brought his hand to her face, drawing a thin line of red across her pale cheek.

_No…not again… I can't lose you too.._

Al's memory entered his mind, of the cold rainy night he died in his arms, a gutter filled with blood. Pride was lost to the world then, grief suddenly filling his senses, as if nothing else existed but the pain of losing her.

He cradled Winry with his arms, his senses telling him it was certain he would lose her.

He let out a scream, his anguish taking form. All his pain. All his regret. The unfairness of it all.

_Was asking for happiness too much?_

His mind was lost. All he could feel was the agony burning in his heart and the hatred that was throbbing through his veins. He grabbed Envy by his arm and shoulder, Winry still cradled in between them.

"How many times do you have to die?" he spat through grit teeth.

"hahahaha what a stupid little girl…" his eyes went wide as the gate appeared behind Pride.

"What the hell is this?" he cried trying to break free from Pride's grasp. Even with Winry in between them, he could not match his younger brother's strength.

* * *

Roy's eyes widened. He saw the black gate open before him. The images suddenly pouring into his head.

Suddenly he forgot that his heart was breaking. Suddenly he forgot he was losing the only girl he had ever loved.

Suddenly for the first time in a very long time, Roy Mustang was afraid.

* * *

"You open the gate at will?" he laughed almost impressed as all three of them disappeared behind the black doors. "I never realized how powerful you've become."

Pride's eyes were lost now, lost to anything he could say. And Envy knew this. This was his end.

"I will take you or that stupid girl with me." He said grabbing hold of his arm as the tiny black hands started pulling at his leg. Pride would not let Winry go.

"Ed, is this the gate?" Winry asked softly against his chest.

"Don't look Winry." He whispered, his arm exploding with the pain as Envy pulled on it. Pride would not let go, if he did he would lose Winry.

"It's so cold." She breathed burying deeper into his embrace. "I'm afraid…"

"I'm here. I won't leave you." He said quietly. Pride would not let go.

* * *

Roy saw them return a second later. The heavy black doors closing behind them. Blood was flowing from what used to be Pride's left arm. His other arm still cradling Winry.

He fell to the ground, his knees giving way. He looked at the girl dying in his arm. His eyes softened now, and for the last time, Pride tasted the cool saltiness of his tears and with it he cursed the frailty of life, the inconsistencies of love, the fickleness of fate.

"I couldn't do it anymore. I can't be left behind again." She smiled lifting her hand to his face, touching his cheek. " I can't lose you again."

"I'm so sorry Ed. You did everything to come back to me. But this time I will have to be the one that leaves you." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry." He sobbed, memorizing her face. "I should've put you first. I should've…"

"The real Edward would've given everything up to do the right thing. Even if the cost was his own happiness." She said smiling, her eyes filling up with tears. "You are Edward."

"You are my Edward." She whispered kissing him.

Then Winry Rockbell's blue eyes glazed over. The laughter had finally stopped. He had lost her then. Pride drew her body close to him as if wanting to merge her body to him. His body shook with his sobs. Unable to restrain his anguish, unable to contain the sorrow emanating from his soul. And he kissed her unfeeling lips one last time.

And in all the years he had loved her, for the first time Roy Mustang felt like he had no right to. As he watched him cradle her lifeless body, his pain embracing them both as if nothing in heaven or earth could take her away. She would always remain Edward's.

Edward had won, although it didn't seem like a victory to either of them.

Pride laid her down gently. Brushed the hair from her face. He took Winry's blood and drew a transmutation circle on his chest.

Roy looked at him. Too tired to protest.

"I can't live a borrowed life, and with her gone I have no reason to stay." He said looking at him. "I can't do alchemy without my left hand. Break my seal. Set my soul free."

"Please, Colonel."

"I won't make her wait anymore." Pride kissed her forehead one last time. He looked at Roy and smiled. A farewell.

And Roy drew his hands in front of him.


	7. Chapter 7

7

He laid flowers on their grave. He had buried them together. If they were not meant to be together in this life maybe in the next. Love doesn't have to end when life does.

Maybe somewhere the three of them are together again. Happy at last.

_If being human meant losing yourself to other people. Leaving part of yourself to every person you had loved, then being human meant being broken. Unable to become whole again. Fragmented beyond repair. _

_Our brokenness is what makes us human. Our imperfection makes us beautiful. Our pain makes us feel alive. _

He smiled. He would turn fifty soon. He really was an old man.

"Take care of her for me." He whispered tracing her name etched on the grave stone.

Roy Mustang left then.

------

Hay…its over…I wanted to make it a bit longer but i did say I wouldn't make it run too long…

Thank you for reading this, i hope it was time well spent...i enjoyed writing it immensely..

_Maraming salamat po_


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